Cortaga, C. Q. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2021

Genetic Structure and Diversity of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) in the Philippines

Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is an important disease of banana in the Philippines and in other banana-producing countries. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic structure and diversity of Philippine BBTV isolates which remain unexplored in the country. BBTV-infected plant tissues were sampled from banana-growing provinces (i.e., Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Palawan, Cebu, Leyte, and Davao del Sur) and the partial DNA-R gene of BBTV was sequenced. Analysis of all local BBTV isolates showed a nucleotide diversity ({pi}) of 0.00721, average number of nucleotide differences (k) of 5.51984, and haplotype diversity (hd) of 0.971. Neutrality tests using Fus Fs and Tajimas D showed significant and highly negative values which suggest an excess number of rare alleles due to recent population expansion or from genetic hitchhiking. Haplotype network and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the local BBTV isolates were closely related to Southeast Asian (SEA) group and exhibited a monophyletic clade with distinct haplotype grouping from other SEA sequences. However, some Indonesian and Indian reference sequences were also clustered within the Philippine BBTV group suggesting sequence homology. Results also showed that the local BBTV isolates may be categorized into three major haplotype groups (HA, HB, and HC) but only the HC group remained distinct upon comparison with other Philippine and SEA reference sequences. BBTV isolates from Quezon were the most diverse while isolates from Palawan displayed low genetic diversity indices and belonged only in the HC group. The assessment of the degree of variability among Philippine BBTV isolates will provide a reference towards the development of high-throughput BBTV detection systems as well as enable to devise plant breeding strategies to manage the current BBTV spread and variations.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2020

Transcriptome-wide analysis of expressed resistance gene analogs (RGAs) in mango

Mango is an economically important fruit crop largely cultivated in the (sub)tropics and thus, is constantly challenged by a myriad of insect pests and diseases. Here, we identified and characterized the resistance gene analogs (RGAs) of mango from de novo assembly of transcriptomic sequences. A core RGA database of mango with 747 protein models was established and classified based on conserved domains and motifs: 53 nucleotide binding site proteins (NBS); 27 nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeat proteins (NBS-LRR); 17 coiled-coil NBS-LRR (CNL); 2 toll/interleukin-1 receptor NBS-LRR (TNL); 29 coiled-coil NBS (CN); 4 toll/interleukin-1 receptor NBS (TN); 17 toll/interleukin-1 receptor with unknown domain (TX); 158 receptor-like proteins (RLP); 362 receptor-like kinases (RLK); 72 transmembrane coiled-coil domain protein (TM-CC), and 6 NBS-encoding proteins with other domains. The various molecular functions, biological processes, and cellular localizations of these RGAs were functionally well-annotated through gene ontology (GO) analysis, and their expression profiles across different mango varieties were also determined. Phylogenetic analysis broadly clustered the core RGAs into 6 major clades based on their domain classification, while TM-CC proteins formed subclades all across the tree. The phylogenetic results suggest highly divergent functions of the RGAs which also provide insights into the mango-pest co-evolutionary arms race. From the mango RGA transcripts, 134 unique EST-SSR loci were identified, and primers were designed targeting these potential markers. To date, this is the most comprehensive analysis of mango RGAs which offer a trove of markers for utilization in resistance breeding of mango.

molecular biology↗